Stronger Together series—peer support for mental wellness
Stronger Habits with Common Sense Media
In our latest peer-to-peer support talk, Sue Thotz of Common Sense Media brainstorms with four middle schoolers on how to move from compulsive scrolling to greater productivity, balance, and human connection.
Featuring Emmy, Sima, Eliana, and Darya sharing what it’s like to grow up online right now.
🤖 It's a struggle for all of us. We can learn a lot from listening to each other.
Thanks also to our friends at The Jed Foundation (JED) who collaborated with us on some questions for this session!
This work exists within a broader movement alongside organizations like Hopelab, Mental Health Storytelling Initiative, Child Mind Institute, Born This Way Foundation, LOG OFF Movement, and others working at the intersection of youth mental health, digital well-being, and education.
Together, these efforts remind us that supporting young people means listening to them and designing systems with their lived experience at the center. 💖
Covering privacy, procrastination, compulsive scrolling, and strategies for establishing new habits.
Values and Tech with Common Sense Media
For this episode, we’re collaborating with our friends at Common Sense Media, a nonprofit founded in 2003 that puts kids' safety and well-being first in the digital era. An expert in the Common Sense Education digital citizenship curriculum, educator Sue Thotz asks middle schoolers to discuss how their core personal values match up with their media diets and tech use.
Our latest talk with Common Sense Media on values and tech
Stronger Together Intro
Our first talk covers navigating severe depression, masking, and building a support system
Series Editor April Liu
Lighting Andrew Martinez
Camera Nahima Shaffer
Exec Producer/Camera Rob VanAlkemade for Medicinal Media
Stronger Together is all about the power of peer-to-peer support in addressing the global mental health crisis.
Our founding Executive Producer Rob VanAlkemade is helping develop this series. As a teen, Rob lost his dad, Gerry, to suicide, and has long navigated major depressive disorder. Rob is now a dad to elementary and middle schoolers, and strives to help raise them with the resources, openness, and resilience that might have saved his own father’s life—and himself from years of isolation and self-blame. He’s deeply honored to be working with young people like the brave and generous kids and teens you’ll meet in this series.
Medicinal Media was co-founded by Melissa and Mike Wilson in 2023.
The Wilsons were inspired to start this nonprofit because of their own personal journeys with mental health challenges and those of people close to them. They also continue to support this work in honor of their sister, Dr. Lisa Wilson. She, like so many, struggled with mental health issues for years until she took her own life. Lisa was a vibrant mother, grandmother, sister, and daughter. She was also a psychologist and professor who enjoyed teaching others. She loved music, playing the guitar, traveling, and dancing. She had a great sense of humor, too.
The more we share, talk about these issues, support each other, and celebrate what’s working, the more people we can help. Thank you for joining the Medicinal Media community and showing your support for this cause.
